Chapter 225: He Got Cake, I Got Rage
In another part of the city, a man sat stiffly behind a sleek, dark wood desk. The office was quiet, too quiet, but the stillness wasn’t peaceful. It was the kind that suffocated.
Aidan Wilson stared at his phone, unmoving. His fingers twitched around the device, knuckles white as if he were crushing it. His jaw clenched so hard that the muscles near his ear kept pulsing. His eyes burned with anger.
The screen displayed a photo: a small cake with strawberries on top. Homemade. Sloppy. Ugly. The caption was loud. Jarring.
RogueOverlord: 19th birthday, first homemade birthday cake! 😤 Haha! I’m officially the first to get one in the fam. Try calling me unpopular now, losers! 😎😏
The message played over and over in Aidan’s mind. Every time he read it, something inside him twisted tighter.
Just minutes ago, he had heard that distinct notification tone, the one he had assigned to that account. For a moment, he had felt something stupid. Hopeful. He had nearly dropped his pen in excitement. But what he saw....
Aidan had found himself in a state of mania instead.
The boy, the one who had helped him without asking anything in return, the bright, cheeky, gentle boy, had finally posted on WeChat. Until now, the boy’s moments had been blank. Not only that, he hadn’t replied to a single one of his messages.
After weeks of silence, after ignoring three of Aidan’s messages. No explanation. No replies. Just... Nothing.
And then this. A picture. A cake. A moment.
He gritted his teeth. His thumb hovered over the chat window, where his last message to the boy sat, still unread. It made his skin crawl. His chest felt heavy, like someone was sitting on it.